Pin the tail on the scapegoat

As a city, Worcester has many fine qualities that I’m sure will come to me eventually. Unfortunately, embrace of the serenity prayer has never been one of them.

The head of our public works department is angry at the Environmental Protection Agency for trying to improve air and water quality. Our police chief is perpetually peeved at judges for not issuing life sentences to jaywalkers. Our legal department is so ticked off at defense lawyer Ed Ryan that it’s suing him in federal court, for reasons best left unexplored. In Worcester, we even harbor an animosity toward food trucks.

With this in mind, I’ve coined a nifty new slogan for the Chamber of Commerce: “Worcester: A City in Search of a Scapegoat.”

The latest object of our collective wrath, oddly enough, is the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Maybe you’ve heard of it — UMass is a world-class academic health center, home to the 2006 co-winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine, one of the fastest-growing centers in the country, and an authority on diseases such as AIDS.

In other words, UMass is no slouch. Just weeks ago, in fact, state and city leaders were falling all over themselves to praise the school for opening the $400 million Albert Sherman Center.

“It is about jobs and investment, but for so many people and families, it’s about hopes and cures and therapies,” Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Murray said at the lavish unveiling.

Details, details. But just because UMass is the city’s biggest employer and its research scientists sport enormous brains, we can’t allow it to go off half-cocked whenever it feels like it. That’s the City Council’s job.

So when Worcester leaders recently learned that UMass had created nonprofit subsidiaries to buy buildings at the Massachusetts Biotechnology Research Park, they reacted with the same level-headed maturity typically displayed by Mel Gibson when he’s arrested for drunken driving or breaking up with a girlfriend. The outcry was led by Jordan Levy, the modest radio personality who broke the story and only mentioned that on his show about 10,000 times, while whipping everyone into a frenzy by predicting that the sale will cost the city $2 million in lost property taxes.

“When this event happened, it was a question as to whether we were stabbed in the heart or the back,” said City Councilor Konnie Lukes, a comment I will explain at length as soon as I figure out what it means. Councilor Kate Toomey, whom I always fear will burst into tears, called the lack of communication a “major insult” to the city.

“I really believe at this point in time the milk’s been spilled and no sense to cry over it,” she said. Good for you, Kate! And allow me to note that our micromanaging city manager is a terrific, hard-working administrator, but if he doesn’t calm down he’s going to give himself a heart attack.

I sympathize with the city’s frustration with the secrecy surrounding the sale, but only to a degree. So does Kevin O’Sullivan, president of the Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives.

“I can see why people are upset,” he said. “But if it wasn’t for UMass, that park wouldn’t be here today … UMass is the best suitor for the park and doesn’t deserve to be thrown under the bus. I think they’ll attract commercial entities that will pay taxes.”

Indeed, and now we’re learning that estimates of lost tax revenues have been overstated. Besides, shouldn’t we be happy that a city jewel continues to invest here?

Much of the anger toward UMass has died down as the dust settles. But this latest city temper tantrum should remind us that the sky won’t fall over Worcester just because our leaders can’t control the weather.